Rail link more attractive than Luton to Dunstable guided busway

Norman Baker, the transport minister, is reported as having said that reopening the Luton to Dunstable railway would have been 'more attractive than the busway'. But that wasn't a choice he faced when asked for funding. Nevertheless, he thinks the busway will be good for the economy of Luton.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-24224674

Luton Dunstable Guided Busway

Although this blog is mainly devoted to the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, I have in the past commented on the Adelaide Busway on Australia. With the Luton-Dunstable Busway close to being opened in the next couple of months, it seemed a good time to report on progress and point out some sources of information about the project.

The guided section of the busway is 7.5km long. It is now running late and over budget. A recent report in the  called on Luton Borough council to reveal how much the extra costs had come to. Back in February, the budgeted cost of £51.6million had shifted upwards to £55.7m according to the Luton & Dunstable Express website. However, according to this BBC report, Luton Council and Central Bedford Council's joint' share had increased from 4.7% of £51 million to 4.7% of £62 million.

The route links central Luton with Dunstable and Houghton Regis in one direction on a former railway track, and with London Luton Airport via Luton Airport Parkway rail station in the other. However, the link to the airport involves running along normal roads. The railway track from Luton to Dunstable was actually lifted in order to build the busway, when perhaps it could have been re-built and electrified as a branch off the Thameslink line. The busway is designed to allow buses to bypass the severe congestion on the roads between Luton and Dunstable.

A speed test took place on 16 May as reported on the Luton Today website, with buses reaching 50mph (which is less that the Cambridgeshire busway's top speed of 56mph).

BAM Nuttall, who built the Cambridgeshire busway, is the contractor for the Luton busway.

Here is the website of Luton Borough Council, whose project this is.

There is a  discussion group for the Luton busway on Facebook.

Busway news in this weeks Hunts Post

The exchange of views between Tim Phillips of Cast.Iron and Sawtry resident Roger Cox about whether reopening the railway would have been better than constructing the busway continues in this week's Hunts Post ( 25 January, page7).

Another letter from Mary Hodge of St Ives (same page) complains about the busway's poor timekeeping during the morning peak. On 18 January her bus from Ramsey Road at 07.45 did not reach Shire Hall until 08.55. The delay appears to be due to the traffic lights on Harrison Road causing a back-up of traffic through central St Ives. In fact, all car traffic to St Ives Park & Ride has to use the Harrison Road/Meadow Lane roundabout, which must surely have the effect of adding to the problems. A work colleague of mine today mentioned that it had taken longer to get through central St Ives ( by car) than it took to drive from St Ives into Cambridge. That is perhaps a measure of the traffic congestion within St Ives, which the busway cannot alleviate. I worry that if the service A is extended to start from Ramsey Road, its punctuality heading onto Cambridge, which has up to now been good, will be compromised.

On page 10 of the Hunts Post ( 25 January), it is reported that the new bus stop  for guided buses in Station Road, St Ives,  has been approved by Cambridgeshire County Council's Traffic Management Joint Area Committee. It will be outside Hyperion auction house. St Ives Town Council will seek a traffic management order to enable police to fine drivers stopping opposite the new bus stop. the stop will enable the doubling of bus service frequency from St Ives Park & Ride to Ramsey Road. A proposal to introduce extra angled bus bays in the bus station was rejected.

Busway delays Olympic runs

This week's Hunts Post reveals that the busway is delaying transport of construction materials from Marshalls in St Ives to the Olympic Games site in London - 30 HGVs of materials per day, and, of course, 30 return trips empty.

Chris Annis of Marshalls claims this is due to the traffic lights where the busway crosses Harrison Way, plus cars parking in Meadow Lane. The lights are also causing delays back  to the Manchester Arms. Bob Menzies of Cambridgeshire County Council does not believe the lights are causing these delays, and says that the Council has no record of Marshalls having complained about this matter.
(Hunts Post, 9 November, page 8)

Of course, if the railway had been retained, then this material could potentially have been transported by rail.